


Spring Blooms

by SillyFanboy



Series: Worlds Timeline [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: F/M, I have no excuse for this, I just couldn't help myself, Love Confessions, Marriage Proposal, Romance, basically how they met and got together, it's kinda like an extra chapter if you will, no beta we die like Gustav's dad, so yeah have this gustav/henriette fic nobody asked for but I delivered anyways, within the universe of Worlds, you don't need to have read Worlds prior to this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 12:58:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20621417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SillyFanboy/pseuds/SillyFanboy
Summary: The future King and Queen of Askr fall in love: a one shot.





	Spring Blooms

**Author's Note:**

> Yeahhh hello  
I'm not sure what compelled me to write this I just couldn't help myself  
So yeah this is basically how Henriette and Gustav met and got together. You could consider this an extra chapter to Worlds, but there's no need to have read that thing in order to enjoy this one so have fun I guess;;

They first met in a secluded area of Askr Castle’s expansive inner gardens, during the spring. 

It was the Queen’s desire for there to be a botanical research facility in the castle, and the handmaids had managed to convince her to set up a floral garden with a fountain in the middle.

It was by pure dumb luck that Gustav landed a spot among the castle’s staff as the one appointed to oversee the construction and structure of the garden within the garden. They needed someone with decent knowledge in the ways plants interacted with each other, not to mention water canal engineering to ensure the species would all survive.   
Gustav happened to have both aspects, as the Queen discovered upon speaking with his father, hence why she decided to task him with the area she’d declared would be called the “Blessed Gardens”.

Her curiosity piqued by the news about this supposed research facility being constructed in the castle, it was inevitable the Princess would decide to visit it once it was completed.

And so, Gustav was barely nineteen (a year older than Her Highness) when they met one afternoon as he arranged the newly planted lavender on the second level of the raised plantations.

The stable hands and the sole castle gardener who had been assigned to help him out he’d dismissed for lunch a while ago, opting to stay and get some more things done before they came back.

Needless to say, Gustav had never expected for the Princess to wander into the still-somewhat-under-construction botanical garden.   
So he scrambled to free his hands off the countless tools he was utilizing all at once so he could take the one he was currently holding in his mouth to properly greet the Princess like he should.

—G-Good afternoon, Highness. —_he managed out, abashed, setting his wide array of tools aside. He stood straight and faced her, dusting his hands off some dirt over his gardening apron._— Please, forgive me for that.

—Don’t worry, I walked in at a bad time. —_Princess Henriette chuckled, a bright smile on her face. Gustav could’ve blushed, she really was as pretty as the stable hands said her to be._— You must be the one Mother appointed to oversee this project, right?

—Yes, Highness. —_he nodded._

—What is your name? And why you, in specific? —_she asked, ever so curious. The Princess seemed to realize something after that, sheepish._— Forgive me, I... don’t mean offense.

—I’m Gustav, Highness. —_he smiled softly to assure her it was fine. Her expression turned bright once again_.— And, well, I’m afraid my father was the one who got me tangled up in all of this. Not that I’m complaining.

—Your father? —_she quirked a brow. So expressive._

—A Royal Knight, Highness. He was recently promoted to Captain. —_Gustav’s smile turned a bit more genuine_.— We just moved to the capital so he could take over his assigned station. I suppose he mentioned me having an affinity for gardening during his conference with Her Majesty.

—Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall hearing Mother saying something like that. —_the Princess hummed in thought, looking around at the plants_.— So you are in charge of this entire botanic facility?

—If I’m correct in my knowledge of what “construction overseer” means, then yes. —_he chuckled._

Gustav was assaulted by a sudden nervousness upon saying that, but it was quelled the moment Princess Henriette let out a soft laugh.

After that small chance encounter, the Princess would wave at him casually from across hallways and corridors if they happened to see each other.

A week later, early in the morning, she decided to visit the botanic facility once again. The water canals had been calibrated, the fountain had been activated, all raised plantations had been installed, the cobblestone pathways had been built, and the place had been closed off with a gate and a fence.   
It was finished for the most part. As far as she knew, now the only things left to do before it was fully functional were the transplant of some species due to a mishap during construction, and the first inventory and status check. Seeing as there were less things to be done there, the stable hands had been fully dismissed from the operation and now the only one looking after the place was Gustav himself.

So she wasn’t the least surprised when, upon entering, the young man was already hard at work planting Lilies of the Valley.

—Good morning. —_she greeted, walking up to where he was crouching down near one of the water canals._

—Ah- —_he let out, snapping out of his concentration, turning around to face her and standing up straight._— Good morning, Highness. Do you need anything?

—That I do. Today the maids served us a new type of tea during breakfast, and when I asked they said the flowers they used came from here. —_Princess Henriette smiled, curiosity sparkling in her emerald eyes._— Would you happen to know anything about that?

—Ahh, they must’ve used the hibiscus we got yesterday. —_Gustav hummed, looking around in search for that specific plant. He pointed to it when he spotted it, in the warmest area of the garden_.— It’s that red one over there, Highness.

As the Princess ambled over to the designated plant, he continued with what he had been doing.

—Would these dye the tea red? —_the Princess asked after a moment of silence, Gustav turning around to look back at her still examining the red flowers._

—They would, yes. —_he confirmed._

—Then these are not the ones. —_the Princess spun on her heels to walk back to him, brow furrowed in pondering and gaze on the floor. Oh so expressive_.— The tea wasn’t red.

—What? —_was all he managed out._

The Princess quirked a brow at him as he stared in confusion. There was a moment of silence before Gustav slowly directed his gaze to one of the vine-like plants starting to climb up the fences.   
He got up from his kneeling position and walked up to it, Princess Henriette, curious as ever, in tow.

—This is... jasmine. —_he mumbled, frowning, examining the leaves. There were barely any flowers blooming, but the leaves were enough for him to identify the plant. He looked to the side._— If this is jasmine, that means we are lacking honeysuckle. Oh, how did they even mix those two up? They’re not even similar-looking.

—What, what about it? —_the Princess chimed in from behind._— Is something wrong with this one?

—No, nothing’s wrong with this one, Highness. —_he turned to look at her._— This is the one they gave you for tea this morning, which is alright. —_his attention returned to the plant._— But I had assumed this was honeysuckle all this time, since that was the one which was supposed to get planted here. And if this is not honeysuckle, that means there’s none of it in the entire garden.

—Alright…? —_she mused, leaning in to take in the smell of one of the few flowers._— Oh, this is wonderful! This is indeed what I had for tea this morning!

—They do smell fairly similar, I suppose… —_he mumbled, mostly to himself, walking back to his tools over the cobblestone._— I’ll have to tell the men to get the other, so the nurses should know of this…

—The nurses? —_she repeated, intrigued._

—Honeysuckle is used in medicines. —_he explained, gathering up his stuff with a sigh._— Which is why we had it planted here. Or at least, we were supposed to have it planted here. I suppose I’ll have to move some plants around to make room.

—Medicines? Oh no, isn’t it bad that we don’t have it, then? —_the Princess asked, worried._

—They’re used for making something along the lines of cough syrup, if I’m not mistaken. —_he thought over it for a moment._— So it’s not  _ urgent _ , but I should really have it ordered again if it was in the list in the first place.

The next time the Princess visited the Blessed Gardens, they were a fully functioning botanic facility, honeysuckle included. Gustav was still around, having been kept by decision of His Majesty out of their severe lack of gardeners in general, despite the abundance of plants and greenery in the castle.

She had been forced out of the library by her Mother, and so she’d gone to read by the fountain in the middle of the secluded garden.   
Of course, Gustav was already there when she arrived.

Needless to say, she didn’t get much reading done.

—So you were the one who tended to the garden in your old house? —_she asked, immersed in all his answers he so freely gave her about his own life._

—It was my mother’s, so I took over it when she passed. —_he hummed, attention on the scissors in his hand as he cut off dead leaves from a strawberry bush._— I’m sure father would’ve if he hadn’t been too busy with knight duty.

—And you had to leave it back there? —_the Princess made a sad face. He tried not to chuckle._

—A friend of my father is a medic, so we left the house for him and his spouse. —_he smiled anyway_.— They’ll take good care of it.

The Princess had never been fetched by the maids to return indoors in her entire life up until that night. 

She learned of what his life had been back in the coastal city of Vestri, to the west of Askr. She learned of the things he admired his father for, and of the small habits he wished he would change and that he probably only noticed in the first place when he became the one who looked after the entire household. She learned he had very strong feelings about thorny plants, and that he wasn’t afraid at all to be surrounded by honeybees going from one flower to the other. She learned his smile was the most genuine when speaking about his father, and his eyes were the most warm when looking at the leaves between his fingers.

Princess Henriette barely had a second to ponder whether this could be considered an interrogatory or not before the maids appeared from the rest of the inner garden, candles in hand, clearly weirded out by this strange occurrence of the Princess staying until late outside.

She greeted him across hallways and corridors when they passed each other, but it wasn’t until some weeks later that they once again started finding themselves in the Blessed Gardens when the other was around.

They would speak of unimportant things. Sometimes she would ask about some of the plants, sometimes he would dare ask about the books she brought. Sometimes they spoke of nothing at all, sharing the other’s company in pleasant silence. The Princess would mutter things under her breath as she read, but he would not comment on them.

Weeks turned into months, and it became a routine stop in their days to head for the Blessed Gardens. Gustav had to tend to the plants there, sure, but he wasn’t obliged to do so every single day. Princess Henriette had been encouraged by her mother to continue reading outside when she could, sure, but she could just as easily go to any other spot in the castle out of the countless that were good for a nice read.   
They didn’t  _ have to _ be there, but they did anyway.

The Princess would sometimes read parts out loud, or rant about whatever problem she was currently facing as the princess of a kingdom with increasingly tenser relations with the neighboring empire of Embla. Gustav found himself listening to her, letting out small noncommittal noises here and there so she would know she still had his attention after three hours of non-stop ranting about the same topic. He found himself smiling at her colorful expressions, the wide array of voice intonations she used, the way in which she was so open with her feelings of whatever it was that overtook her, be it frustration or excitement.

Princess Henriette, on the other hand, found herself putting down her book in silence to just admire the view, like her mother had always insisted she try once in a while and what she’d always dismissed in favor of information and tales and legends and such. She found herself staring at the gentle sway of the flowers around her, the calm and practiced motions of Gustav cleaning leaves nearby, his focused expression and the gentleness with which he examined the flowering buds to check the status of the plants.

After a year into this endeavor, they began confiding in each other things better left for more private spaces than a botanic facility, even if nobody but them seemed to visit it.

—I don’t know, I just- What if all this tension with Embla breaks out into a war? —_Princess Henriette murmured, afraid, her arms loosely around her own legs propped atop the rim of the fountain she sat at._— I wouldn’t- My parents, neither of them are warriors, and they wouldn’t let me fight. But I would have to! Wouldn’t I? I have a duty with the people of Askr, as their princess, I- I just…

—If a war does break out, and you feel you must participate, then I would join the knights. —_Gustav offered, voice soft._

—But you’re- You’re not… —_her words fizzled out, unsure._

—My father raised me a warrior, Highness. —_he insisted_.— I am the son of a Captain of the Royal Knights. It wouldn’t do for me not to aid my kingdom in its hour of need.

As the weeks continued to slip past them, the situation with the Emblian Empire became more dire by the hour. There were whispers on the street, along the castle’s corridors, in the mess hall; everywhere.   
Sooner or later, it was going to happen.

—I really don’t want this war. —_Princess Henriette sighed, hands on her lap, looking down at the cobblestone darkened with the night_.— But… I fear this might be the only way to ensure a peaceful future.

—In what sense? —_he asked, voice gentle, eyes on her._

—Embla won’t leave us alone until they have their war. —_she reasoned_.— The only way to end this conflict seems to be defeating them for good. Or at least, good enough to get them to reconsider what they really want.

—Everyone is convinced there is going to be a war, Highness, I don’t think this is a matter of what ifs anymore. —_he commented_.— Is His Majesty doing any preparations?

—Reluctantly. —_she huffed._

—We will only achieve a peaceful future if we fight for it, just as you said. —_Gustav looked around the garden, the flowers swaying in the gentle nightly breeze_.— I’ll have to ask my father to help me enlist.

Henriette had been saddened by that decision, but found herself unable to complain. As the Princess of Askr, she had no right nor interest in directing people away from aiding them in the war effort, especially when they needed it most.

And yet, there was something inherently bitter and sad about knowing someone who spent his days tending with such gentleness to flowers and medicinal plants would be enlisting to officially become a soldier.   
No matter how much had his father raised him as a warrior, something in her told her Gustav was better suited for his position as gardener.

Oh, how wrong had she been.

The moment the war began, her dear gardener surprised everyone but his father when he turned out to be an absolute beast in the battlefield. 

His expertly sharpened axe tore through armor of all kinds with the strenght of six men. He took blow after blow, dealing twice the damage taken back at the enemy in a reckless yet oddly calculated massacre. His white infantry uniform was so commonly soaked in blood, his superior found himself giving him a long and thick cape so at least some of it could be salvaged after every battle.

He was promoted on the spot to the cavalry unit, and after proving that position only made him more of an asset for the kingdom, he was placed in his father’s regimen.    
The one that was in charge of holding the front lines.

The moment she got notice of that from overhearing the captains’ reports to her father, Henriette fought with all she had to get her parents to let her join the war effort, if only as a strategy advisor.

It took months of subtle hints and offhand comments, but as the war dragged on her father realized they did need Henriette’s aid.   
And so, she was granted a position in the central camp, out of the capital, the closest to the front lines she would probably ever get.

The next time she saw Gustav, Askr was two years deep into the war with the Emblian Empire and Henriette had just celebrated her twenty-first birthday in company of the soldiers. She had started to make a name for herself, even if small, by crafting long-running plans and operations to drive the Emblians away from their continuous progress on their territory. As a wind mage, she aided the troops under her supervision by altering the wind currents and patterns, causing the ashes and smoke to hit their enemies in the face and allowing her soldiers to run with the wind and not against it.

She didn’t like the war, but she had to admit there was a sense of proudness in herself at knowing so many people could be saved by a well-crafted strategy.

Gustav, meanwhile, had certainly made a name for himself on the front lines. He had been rising through the ranks with ease, him now a captain and is father now a commander, both known for their many successful assaults on Emblian outposts and defences of the border against all odds. His expression had hardened, his eyes didn’t hold the same peaceful glimmer they used to when he would tend to the Blessed Gardens, and there was stubble growing along his jawline.   
She’d heard what the soldiers called him.   
The Exsanguinator.

And yet, when they met again in a strategy meeting after almost two years of being apart and having exchanged no amount of letters, something in his cold expression softened upon laying eyes on her.   
Henriette smiled, and waved hello at him the same way she used to in the castle when they passed each other in the hallways.

—Highness. —_he greeted her after the meeting had ended, outside of the main tent, with a relief in his voice she thought (hoped) couldn’t only be from the war._

—You can just use my name, you know that, right? —_she found herself giggling, after so many years._

—No, of course I can’t. —_he chuckled without a smile, in something more akin to surprise rather than amusement_.— The soldiers will all have my head if they hear me getting chummy with you, Highness.

—And why is that? —_she asked with a coy smile, certainly amused. Oh, she knew why. She wasn’t that dense not to notice the abashed glances and nervous sidelooks the soldiers sent her way. She was pretty, alright._

—”Why is that”, you ask… —_he sighed, exasperated._

For the five hours that followed, it was as if the war had never started in the first place.

They talked without anyone being able to stop them. 

They shared their stories. Henriette updated him on the capital’s affairs and how the Blessed Gardens had passed to be under the care of the one gardener at the castle, and Gustav listened with a peaceful expression to her ramble on about how difficult it was to get her father to let her aid in the war effort.   
She asked him about his missions, about how it was working with the soldiers on the front lines, and wished for a second she wasn’t royalty so he could tell her everything without feeling like he had to hold back. 

Still, he didn’t shy away from presenting the hard truth to her, and she was glad he didn’t think her a glass rose to be protected from everything.

So from that day on, the struggles of the front lines were eased when the Princess took everything Gustav had told her into consideration when drafting her strategies.

The war continued on.

As months turned into years, Gustav and Henriette found themselves sparing any time possible after the weekly strategy meetings to talk to each other. Some (most) days, it would only be her doing the talking (rambling), while he listened on with unwavering interest and renewed peacefulness; a trait that seemed to vanish from his eyes the more the time went by. To get any information out of him, she had to ask. He would comply without questioning, and would tell her about the progress at the frontier. He would tell her about the soldiers’ wishes to implement a mailing system so sending and receiving letters from their families would be easier.

They set up messenger hawks carrying special packages so multiple letters could be sent at the same time.

He would tell her about the struggle the supply caravans had to go through in order to reach them, what with the empty gap of nothing but hills between the border and the main camp where they could be easily ambushed by any stray battalions of the Empire that managed to slip past them.

They implemented camps across the middle section between the front lines and the main encampment, which doubled over as healing outposts where soldiers could come and go more easily, halving their total casualties in a single move.

Any information she could get was gold for her planning.

It was six years into the war, Princess Henriette now a twenty-five year old young woman, when disaster struck the battlefield.

—The front lines have reported sighting battalions of soldiers approaching from the east, within our borders. —_a captain informed during one of the weekly meetings, where Gustav wasn’t present._— They say they won’t die.

—What?! —_Henriette exclaimed, shocked._

—The regiments of General Stefan, Captain Bjarne, and Commander Gustav are currently holding a secondary frontier to the east to stop these incoming and unidentified foes. —_the captain continued_.— General Stefan’s regiment has filed a request for backup to be sent to the front lines with the Emblian Empire while they deal with this new threat.

It was an entire month after this strange news that she saw Gustav again.   
Being rushed in to a medical tent, barely conscious.

There had been a report haphazardly sent to the main camp about the ringleader of these strange troops to the east having been sighted about two weeks prior to that, and since then the eastern frontier had gone into absolute silence.

And when they came back, they were speaking things of undead soldiers, curses, and of Hel.   
The ruler of the realm of the dead.

—She struck like lightning through our troops. True to her word, she can’t be killed. —_Gustav informed, laying on a cot in the medical tent, his face half covered in bandages_.— We left Captain Bjarne’s regiment holding the lines, but it would seem she has retreated back to her realm.

—And what is all this talk about curses, then? —_Henriette insisted, sitting by the side in company of General Stefan, whose troops had been the ones to rush Gustav back to camp._

—It would seem, as the Ruler of the Dead, Hel has some semblance of control over our lives. —_he frowned, one hand coming to rest over his bandages._— She has cursed me to die in nine days. —_his one uncovered eye laid its gaze on the General_.— I’m sorry, father.

It was then that Henriette realized the extent of the feelings she had started to harbor for Gustav.

One truly does not realize what they have until they are faced with the possibility of losing it.

When the day of the final verdict came, however, Henriette found herself staring in utter shock at the form of, not Gustav, but  _ his father  _ taking the slash of the Ruler of the Dead’s scythe.

The loss of General Stefan was a major blow to the morale and manpower of their troops.

Gustav, Henriette’s dear gardener, was promoted to General thanks in part to that turn of events.   
And she’d never seen anyone take a title with such remorse.

A year after General Stefan’s death, Henriette now the head strategist of the main camp and Gustav now the impassable wall between the rest of Askr and the Emblian Empire, there was a strange halt in the fighting at the frontier.

They held a meeting, they waited for another week; and yet, it seemed as if Embla had decided to take some vacations from their fighting.

Of course, it was all revealed the moment Henriette’s scouts came back from their information gathering mission:

The Empress of Embla had been pushed off a cliff by her right hand man, reported dead; and the successor was being debated.

With that sudden struck of luck, the most injured of the soldiers were sent back to the capital to get more propper treatments, and some of the high-ranking officers made their way back as well to meet up with the King and Queen.

Henriette among them, of course.

The next time she spoke with Gustav after returning to the capital, it was after a short meeting to keep up with the state of the front lines.

—I dearly hope Commander Bjarne’s regiment will be able to hold the lines until we get there if the Empire decides to surprise us. _—he sighed, walking a respectful distance away from her.—_ I swear, if he-

Whatever he’d been about to say was interrupted by a coughing fit.

—Oh, that sounds bad. —_Henriette commented, barely holding herself from patting him on the back. The coughing receded, and she cracked a smile._— You know, maybe you should have some tea for that.

—Yes, I’ll see to it by dinner. —_Gustav nodded, apologetic._— It shouldn’t be much of a problem here, but back out there…

—Well, there’s honeysuckle in the gardens. _—she smirked._

—There certainly is. —_he couldn’t help but chuckle._

During their stay at the capital, the both of them continued to spare some time out of their busy schedules to rendezvous at the Blessed Gardens and talk, even if only for half an hour. Gustav no longer needed to go there, seeing as, in his absence, the organization and care of the facility had been passed onto the head gardener of the castle; but he still found himself going there to clean the leaves.

It was the only excuse he knew, after all. What would the soldiers say if they found out he was having "secret" outings with the Princess?

Some days, they met up only to sit in amiable silence in the company of the other. The hustle and bustle of army camps during the war had made them both very appreciative of moments like those, where there was no need to do anything and one could simply sit with a dear friend (or, heavens forbid, something  _ more _ ) and observe the scenery in peace and quiet.

If Henriette happened to lean her head on his shoulder as they sat at the rim of the fountain on more than one occasion, Gustav pretended not to notice.

He did so for the three weeks they spent together in the capital, before he had to return to the front and check up on his regimen and the other two stationed there.

After he was gone and Henriette saw herself alone in the castle, she made a decision.  
During the following four months before her dear gardener returned to the capital for a scheduled meeting with His Majesty, she set a plan in motion.

As with anything to do with her parents, it took several offhanded comments and subtle hints before she saw fit to drop the question.  
It was time Henriette married.

The King and Queen were growing old, and the war dragged on without a clear end in sight. Sure, it would seem the Empire was taking a several year break from the intense fighting to somewhat sort out their inner succession problem, but the battles were certain to resume the moment they managed to reach an accord.

Henriette knew her parents weren't really fit to lead a kingdom through a war in the way Askr needed it.  
And Henriette knew what her kingdom was in need of.

—You wished to speak to me, Highness? 

The Princess took a deep breath.

The next time she saw Gustav, four arduous and lonely months had passed since he left for the front lines and Henriette had already convinced her parents of her decision.  
Hence why she asked him to meet her in the Blessed Gardens.

—Yes, that I did. —_she turned to face him, nervous about what his reaction would be. Because, when it was time for the truth, all possible doubts surfaced unimpeded. _

—May I ask what this is about? —_he questioned, shifting in place._

—Oh- Are you busy? —_she asked, sheepish, already running the calculations on when else she could get him to herself if he left now._

—For you, never, Highness. —_he assured, earnest, and she felt relief and warmth wash over her_.— It's just- This would be the first time you've explicitly called for me like this.

—Well, yes, this happens to be a matter of utmost importance. —_she nodded, fiddling with her fingers._

—You have my attention. —_he gently pressed._

Henriette took a deep breath, again.

—My parents, they're growing too old to carry on with this war. —_she explained._— So I've… I've decided to step up to the throne.

—Congratulations. —_he managed out a small smile, and she raised a hand in a stop sign._

—That's not all. I… I'm aware I'm still young and inexperienced, to take care of Askr on my own. Besides, I… don't want to do this alone. So… —_she trailed off, swallowing past her doubts._— I've also decided to marry.

Gustav's expression fell unnoticeably behind his calm front. With much effort, he brought up another smile.

—Well, that's… wonderful. —_he eventually said, at a loss of words_.— But, pardon, Highness; what does any of this have to do with you calling me here?

—Because I want you to help me rule Askr. —_she managed a nervous smile, her emerald eyes staring straight through his soul._— I want you to marry me, Gustav. That is, if you'll have me.

His expression morphed into one of shell-shock, and there was silence for a solid minute.

—But, Highness, I'm… I'm just a soldier, it wouldn't do for you to… —_he muttered in disbelief._— I mean, you know your wishes are orders to me, but I fear...

—No, this isn't an order. —_she took off her circlet, the band holding her long braids up together. Golden poured down casting sunlight onto the cobblestone_.— Forget for a moment I'm the Princess of Askr and answer Henriette this. —_she looked back into his eyes again._— Would you marry me, Gustav?

—In a heartbeat. —_he replied instantaneously, three words packed with emotion beyond her imagination._— But I can only forget for so long, Highness. What about His and Her Majesty? What will they think of this?

—Oh, you think I wouldn't get their approval first? —_she couldn't help but chuckle, walking up to him with the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her lips_.— Everything's set up, now the final move falls on you. So? —_she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, the rest of her body just shy of touching his'._— What will it be?

The last word had barely just been spoken when he pulled her to him and closed the distance between them with a kiss.

They were lucky with how long it took Embla to reach an agreement on who would be taking their throne. The wedding was celebrated in spring, and Henriette found out with amusement just how reluctant Gustav was to leave the front lines to the other commanders, now that they would have way too much to oversee in the capital to stay at the frontier permanently.

Still, the fact they spent most of their time in the castle meant they could once again visit the Blessed Gardens when they had some hours to spare.

At least while the flowers were blooming and the air smelled of lavender and honeysuckle.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, hope you enjoyed that because I certainly had some fun writing it.  
Not to mention, it's the first time I've written a one shot (does it show? I bet it does lmao)  
It's very awkward sorry;;;;;;
> 
> Yeah I guess I'll see y'all on the next chapter of Worlds k bye~


End file.
